FAMILY ECONOMIC SECURITY

The Center for Public Policy Priorities today pointed to a new report by the Working Poor Families Project as evidence of the need for Texas to improve public structures that serve low-income working families. According to the report, 37 percent of Texas working families are low-income. Nearly two-of-three Texas low-income working families lack a parent with any postsecondary education, ranking us 48th in the nation. The report also shows that 57 percent of Texas low-income families have at least one parent without health insurance in 2006. The center cited modest improvements in need-based state financial aid since publication of the last similar report, but urged continued improvement to public structures to ensure prosperity for all Texans.

The Center for Public Policy Priorities today announced the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs Alumni Association has honored CPPP Associate Director Anne Dunkelberg with their Distinguished Public Service Award. Dunkelberg is an LBJ School graduate and a long-time advocate for better policies for low- and mid-income Texans.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) received approval today from the federal government to provide Emergency Food Stamps to victims of Hurricane Ike. Families must have limited income to qualify, but will only need to provide proof of identity and residence in one of the 29 counties declared a federal disaster area.

New data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that many Texans did not share the benefits of economic expansion in 2007 and still cannot meet their basic needs. Hard work for Texans was rewarded in far too many cases with very low wages and no employer-sponsored health insurance. While Texas poverty and income improved slightly in 2007, poverty rates remain worse than during the last recession, and Texas still has the worst uninsured rate in the U.S. The data suggest that Texas state policies make it harder, not easier, for hardworking Texans to get out of poverty and to get health insurance.